fecret Swellings of Seas before a Tempest, so are there in States : Ille etiam cæcos inftare Tumultus Sæpe monet, Fraudesque et operta tumescere Bella.1 Libels and licentious Discourses against the State, when they are frequent and open; and in like fort, falfe News often running up and down, to the Disadvantage of the State, and hastily embraced, are amongst the Signs of Troubles. Virgil, giving the Pedigree of Fame, faith She was fifter to the Giants: Illam Terra Parens, irâ irritata Deorum, Extremam (ut perhibent) Cao Enceladoque fororem As if Fames were the Relics of Seditions past; but they are no less indeed the preludes of Seditions to come. Howfoever, he noteth it right, that Seditious Tumults and Seditious Fames differ no more but as Brother and Sifter, Masculine and Feminine; especially if it come to that, that the beft Actions of a State, and the most plaufible, and which ought to give greatest Contentment, are taken in ill Senfe, and traduced: for that fhews the Envy great, as Tacitus faith, Conflatâ magnâ Invidiâ, feu benè, seu malè, gesta premunt.3 Neither doth it follow, that because these Fames are a Sign 1 Virg. Georg. i. 465. 3 Tacit. Hift. i. 7. 2 Æneid. iv. 179. The paffage runs thus, "Utraque cædes finiftre accepta, et invifo femel Principe feu bene feu male facta premunt." (Ruperti.) of Troubles, that the fuppreffing of them with too much Severity should be a Remedy of Troubles. For the defpifing of them many times checks them beft; and the going about to ftop them doth but make a Wonder long-lived. Also that kind of Obedience, which Tacitus speaketh of, is to be held fufpected; Erant in officio, fed tamen qui mallent Imperantium mandata interpretari, quàm exfequi:4 disputing, excufing, caviling upon Mandates and Directions, is a kind of shaking off the Yoke, and affay of Difobedience: especially, if in those Difputings they which are for the direction speak fearfully and tenderly; and those that are against it audaciously. Alfo, as Machiavel noteth well, when Princes, that ought to be Common Parents, make themfelves as a Party, and lean to a Side, it is as a Boat that is overthrown by uneven weight on the one Side; as was well seen in the time of Henry the third of France: for firft himself entered League for the Extirpation of the Proteftants; and presently after the fame League was turned upon Himself. For when the Authority of Princes is made but an Acceffary to a Cause, and that there be other Bands that tie fafter than the Band of Sovereignty, Kings begin to be put almost out of Poffeffion. Also when Discords, and Quarrels, and Factions are Carried openly and audaciously, it is a Sign, 4 Tacit. Hift. ii. 39. Bacon again quotes from memory: the paffage is, "Miles alacer; qui tamen juffa ducum interpretari, quam exfequi mallet." the Reverence of Government is loft. For the Motions of the greatest persons in a Government ought to be as the Motions of the Planets under Primum Mobile, according to the old Opinion, which is, that Every of them is carried fwiftly by the Highest Motion and foftly in their own Motion. And, therefore, when great Ones in their own particular Motion move violently, and, as Tacitus expreffeth it well, Liberiùs, quàm ut Imperantium meminissent, it is a Sign the Orbs are out of Frame. For Reverence is that wherewith Princes are girt from God; who threatneth the diffolving thereof; Solvam cingula Regum.5 So when any of the four Pillars of Government are mainly shaken, or weakened (which are Religion, Justice, Counfel, and Treasure), Men had need to pray for Fair Weather. But let us pass from this Part of Predictions (concerning which, nevertheless, more light may be taken from that which followeth), and let us speak first of the Materials of Seditions; then of the Motives of them; and thirdly of the Remedies. Concerning the Materials of Seditions, it is a Thing well to be confidered; for the furest way to prevent Seditions (if the Times do bear it) is to take away the Matter of them. For if there be Fuel prepared, it is hard to tell whence the Spark fhall come that fhall fet it on Fire. The Matter of Seditions is of two kinds; Much Poverty, and Much Difcontentment. It is certain, so many Overthrown Estates, fo many Votes for Job xii. 18. See also Isaiah xlv. 1. 5 Troubles. Lucan noteth well the State of Rome, before the Civil War; Hinc Ufura vorax, rapidumque in tempore Fonus, Hinc concuffa Fides, et multis utile Bellum.6 This fame Multis utile Bellum is an affured and infallible Sign of a State difpofed to Seditions and Troubles. And if this Poverty and Broken Eftate, in the better Sort, be joined with a Want and Neceffity in the mean People, the danger is imminent and great. For the Rebellions of the Belly are the worst. As for Difcontentments, they are in the Politic Body like to Humours in the Natural, which are apt to gather a preternatural Heat and to enflame. And let no Prince measure the Danger of them by this; whether they be Juft or Unjuft; for that were to imagine People to be too reasonable; who do often spurn at their own Good: nor yet by this; whether the Griefs whereupon they rife be in fact great or fmall: for they are the most dangerous Discontentments where the Fear is greater than the Feeling. Dolendi Modus, Timendi non item. Besides, in great Oppreffions, the fame Things that provoke the Patience, do withal mate the Courage: but in Fears it is not fo. Neither let any Prince, or State, be fecure concerning Discontentments, because they have been often, or have been long, and yet no Peril hath enfued; for as it is true that every Vapour, or Fume, doth not turn into a Storm; fo it is nevertheless true, that Storms, Lucan, Pharf. i. 181. 7 Mate, i. e. check or daunt. though they blow over divers times, yet may fall at laft and as the Spanish Proverb noteth well, The cord breaketh at the laft by the weakest pull.8 The Causes and Motives of Seditions are, Innovation in Religion, Taxes, Alteration of Laws and Customs, Breaking of Privileges, General Oppreffion, Advancement of unworthy Perfons, Strangers, Dearths, Difbanded Soldiers, Factions grown defperate; and whatsoever in offending People joineth and knitteth them in a Common Cause. For the Remedies; there may be fome general Prefervatives, whereof we will speak; as for the juft Cure, it must answer to the Particular Disease: and fo be left to Counsel rather than Rule. The first Remedy, or Prevention, is to remove by all means poffible, that material Caufe of Sedition whereof we fpake; which is, Want and Poverty in the Estate. To which purpose ferveth the Opening and well Balancing of Trade; the Cherishing of Manufactures; the Banishing of Idleness; the Repreffing of Waste and Excess by Sumptuary Laws; the Improvement and Hufbanding of the Soil; the Regulating of Prices of things vendible; the Moderating of Taxes and Tributes, and the like. Generally, it is to be forefeen that the Population of a Kingdom (especially if it be not mown down by wars), do not exceed I fufpect he refers to the Spanish proverb, " El hilo por lo mas delgado quiebra," which will hardly bear the conftruction put on it, but I can find nothing nearer to the fenfe in any of the numerous collections. Our proverb, "The last feather breaks the camel's back," correfponds to Lord Bacon's verfion. See Erasmus Adag. p. 215, Lugd. 1551, fol. where we have "Abrumpamus dum nimium tendimus funiculum." |